As House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority leader Chuck Schumer wait for President Trump to make a move on gun control legislation, former DNC communications director Mo Elleithee said Monday the commander-in-chief has appeared ambivalent on the issue.

Elleithee told Dana Perino on "Daily Briefing" that “the president has sort of danced with this a little bit in the past, only to back away.”

He added that Trump held a “meeting with a bipartisan group of senators saying he was in favor of background checks” -- but then “pulled back after talking to the National Rifle Association.”

Calling the moment “critical,” Sen. Chuck Schumer and Speaker Nancy Pelosi sent the president a letter Sunday urging him to expand background checks and use his influence to sway Republicans in the Senate who blocked the bill passed by the House earlier this year.

SCHUMER, PELOSI SEND LETTER TO TRUMP TO TAKE ACTION ON GUNS

The letter mentioned earlier reports that Trump has signaled an openness to stricter background checks.

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Last month, Hogan Gidley, the White House principal deputy press secretary, told Fox News that Trump is for meaningful checks, but that Democrats seize on any willingness to compromise and say “no, unless you’re for saying to Hell with the Second Amendment and taking guns away from law-abiding citizens, then you are responsible for the deaths of people across the country.”

Pelosi and Schumer pointed to the mass shootings in August that claimed 51 lives and told the president that he is “uniquely positioned” to answer the call of Americans for more gun restrictions.

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“I think there is a real sense of urgency amongst Democrats and, frankly, amongst the voting population at large over this issue," the letter said. "Too many tragedies.”

Fox News' Gregg Re contributed to this report